Highlighting the obtuse, the slanted and sometimes just plain ignorant writings found in The Gray Lady

Bernie Sanders

It must be remembered that Hollywood is a world unto itself – a hubbub of a bubble; the ultimate echo chamber.

And this year the cries bouncing off that bubble and echoing around in that chamber is that Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” is the musical masterpiece of the year.

We beg to differ.

After a recent viewing of “La La Land” with an average audience – not an “industry” audience, mind you – the crowd upon exiting was left muttering “what were all those critics talking about?”

What we saw was a mumbling, disjointed mish-mash with not one memorable song or performance. Ryan Gosling did his best with the material he was given but playing against Emma Stone he might as well have been hitting tennis balls against a brick wall. Stone’s acting goes from A to Z with nothing in between. No shading. We get the tearing, blurting bits that we saw so well in, well, “Birdman,” for example. And she keeps throwing that back at us.

As musicals go, this one didn’t. Go.

From the opening sequence, once the actors open their mouths to sing the words got lost and we knew we were in the hands of a second-rate director. The composition within the frame was crowded and without perspective, not unlike a smartphone user who’s never sure where the action is so they just point where the movement goes. Cinematography is an art. A cinematographer has a grand vision that encompasses light, composition, movement, depth, color all in a complex language that conveys a dramatic purpose to a film.

In “La La Land” the cinematography was non-existent.

And don’t give any credence to those critics who cite the beauty of the “shots” such as Griffith Park. A camera held still and rolling “film” on an object is not cinematography.

Most of the scenes in “La La Land” were so underlit that Stone and Gosling’s faces were in shadow. And when they are supposed to be singing, audiences want to SEE the mouths of the actors.

Dramatic tension. As in Chazelle’s “Whiplash” this film has a tacked-on, fake dramatic turning point that comes out of nowhere and appears in one scene at a dining table. Coming from left field, audiences are blind-sided. “Well, guess we’re going in that direction.”

Chazelle is still an immature filmmaker. Here he’s not unlike a trolley car driver who’s got his passengers on a trip then decides to jump the track. Passengers – except for gullible Hollywood-ites – don’t enjoy bumpy rides.

The most egregious example of a director who is clueless over what to do with a musical bit is Stone’s little audition song toward the end. It’s meant to be powerful yet, Chazelle has Stone frozen in place, not moving a muscle, under a hard spot, for the entire song. We’ve never seen someone sing a song as if they were standing in front of a firing squad, but this bit would surely qualify.

The film’s ending is an example of what happens when you give a director final cut. They always find a way to make it longer and confusing and waste any goodwill they might have garnered from the audience up until that point.

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There’s more. Much, much more.

And we’ll write about that when we find the time.

At this point we’ll remind everyone to rush out and see Hollywood’s fav flick from last year – “The Revenant.”

Oh, you don’t want to waste your time on that boring slogfest, either.

No, the California primary hasn’t been held yet. And it’s in the best interests of the Democratic Party that Bernie Sanders make a strong showing in The Golden State where progressive issues often drive the best interests of the United States.

What other state knows firsthand the ill effects of climate change, unregulated immigration and its accompanying costs to state coffers, the dreadful results of Prop. 13 property tax restrictions on local economies, the vicissitudes of rapid growth followed by desperate, massive private property foreclosures? Pristine natural resources such as its beaches ruined time and again by Corporate Big Oil negligence through tanker spills, burst oil pipelines?

Presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton needs to hear the voices and votes of California’s citizens and know their concerns should be taken seriously in her policies going forward.

Yes, Bernie Sanders has won the Battle of driving the conversations and issues of this Democratic primary. But he has lost the war. Clinton will be the Dems candidate this Fall.

If she is a smart politician, as all around her have been pronouncing for years, then she will unite the party by selecting Bernie Sanders as her running mate.

Her camp has been professing over and over – mostly in cause of driving Sanders out of the race – that unity for the Democratic Party is utmost in this 2016 election.

Then why not invite Bernie onto the ticket and bring along with him all his supporters? It only makes sense. Bernie’s supporters bring with them the enthusiasm and energy that Clinton desperately needs for the kick into the last part of this marathon race.

And, very importantly, it must be remembered how all the political pundits have been warning – erroneously, we believe – that Bernie’s supporters might just turn their support elsewhere. That scenario would forever be eliminated with Sanders as the VP candidate.

Plus, Bernie still draws big crowds and still gets big reactions. That cannot be denied. Especially on the campaign trail. (Did Pres. Obama ever get much of a boost from having Joe Biden hanging around in the wings? No. He had no built-in constituency to bring along with him. Only a tendency to put his foot in his mouth.)

Bernie Sanders has the cache of his Idealism and the enthusiasm of his youthful supporters. That is something Candidate Clinton would be very wise to put to use. For her party and her nation.

Yes, there are times when, after reading a New York Times editorial position, we’re left scratching our heads. Here’s the latest one from esteemed NYT’s sophist Thomas L. Friedman.

Friedman the rhetorical wizard uses impeccable logic in proposing that among the 3 “lyin'” Presidential contenders it is Hillary Clinton’s lies that are most forgivable. Therefore, Clinton should be President.

And by this logic, Friedman says, Clinton is worthy to rule the nation.

Say, what!?

Don’t Americans elect a President based exactly on their ability to judge? Don’t Americans vote for a candidate that they trust will make the correct decisions in the most crucial of situations?

That is…their judgment?

Thomas L. Friedman, a leading opinion man for The New York Times, has turned logic on its head. He says we Americans should dismiss “judgment” as a quality deemed essential for the leader of the United States.

Well, no wonder the New York Times has been pushing Hillary R. Clinton as its Royal Successor to the Kingdom. She fits their bill.

We may be weary from this pathetic 2016 Presidential Race but it’s not from lack of paying attention.

Rather, Americans are tired of the smoke, mirrors, and fireworks the media has constructed around this most important 2016 election. We are, if you will, not unlike Dorothy and her crew witnessing the bombastic crapola of the Wizard of Oz all the while knowing it’s all a lie and a sham put on by the little people of the media behind their curtains.

Hillary Clinton’s limping toward the finish line getting weaker and weaker. Brings to mind the sad video of that marathon runner a while back who soiled themself while crawling across the finish line. Last night at a rally Clinton was so lackluster in a feeble attack on Trump – raspy-voiced, whispering practically as she read off a card – that she couldn’t muster applause from her own crowd. (Meanwhile, it was up to the Real Thing Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) to deliver a rousing, podium-busting Trump-bashing that was a hit on YouTube.)

People all over America are ready to get activated, ready to campaign, ready to get on the bandwagon and turn out in force – But NOT for tired, business-as-usual, I’m-so-paranoid-I-need-my-own-email-server-in-my-basement-bathroom, millionairess Hillary Clinton.

And this is what the forces of the Democratic Party are shoving down the throats of Thinking Americans.

Bernie Sanders might not have programs that are entirely feasible, but what he does have is genuine Idealism and Enthusiasm for his candidacy. Just listen to his stump speeches. He’s a believer. That’s why he’s energizing millions of young and old people around the country. That’s why he’s winning primaries – wins that the National Media Outlets then refuse to acknowledge in their day-after coverage. (Look it up!)

The Democratic Party has frozen Sanders out of their party. So short-sighted. The Clintonistas – those who abhor change – fear Bernie Sanders.

And by that equation, they are freezing out the millions and millions of Americans who want real and substantive change in America. The Democratic Party is insisting on shoving at America a Clinton candidate who has historically the greatest negative ratings of any Democratic candidate in recent history – How is that even responsible leadership from the party? Especially facing the greatest threat to real Democracy that Donald Trump represents?

Apparently, the Powers That Be in the Democratic Party are ready to throw away the interests of this country for the sake of…their own personal agendas.

Is that any more corrupt than what Trump is promoting?

Yes, in a time when Economic Inequality was the biggest topic of conversation in the nation, the Democratic Party saw fit to crown a candidate – Clinton – who earned $22 million between 2013-15 for doing nothing but giving 15 minute speeches to multinational corporations. Many of whom did business with associates of she and her husband, Bill.

And it was Bernie Sanders who finally forced Hillary Clinton to accept the fact that Americans need a Living Minimum Wage during this campaign…

With the horrendous Donald Trump on the other side running for President, if the Democrats insist on putting up the very flawed Hillary Clinton, there might just be enough ugly Americans out there to swing the election a very ugly direction.